Concern – Misfortune (Isounderscore, 2012)

Concern – God, Weak And Quiet (Isounderscore)

 
A bittersweet moment, this is Gordon Ashworth’s final release as Concern, but it’s such a stellar album that it stings a little less. Made almost entirely with a 15 string box harp, with the exception of some field recordings thrown in to spice it up, Ashworth looped & processed that shit until he turned his 15 strings into a solo Crimson Grail of box harps. This is like the Swedish massage or acupuncture of drone, thousands of little pins & slaps layered and sequenced to give you an overall good time. The first side long track starts with an incredibly lush strum, tender & sharp, that bleeds into samples of indistinct human chatter, a shy social anxiety building as everything tucks itself away into a corner, nervous nondescript fumbling & fidgeting to keep busy while the drones flutter, then a huge blissful shimmering cloud of hand-wringing uncertainty, slightly transparent and hovering right in front of the sun. The first of the two pieces on the B side stretch out the stress and worries, all encompassing but still a heavenly textured euphoria, until the closing track that reaches a relaxing peace, a reserved chillness, obtaining freedom of all concern (yep). An arc in an album I strive for in life, the last track my primary goal. This album is absolutely fucking beautiful and definitely some of the most amazing & unique drone this year. I always expect the best from Isounderscore and, big surprise, Misfortune is another winner.